Monday, April 30, 2012

Students considered for this award work on campus, in
various offices, to improve the campus life for other students, faculty and
staff.

“Colten’s excellence in providing tutoring to the University of Nebraska at
Kearney population on behalf of the Learning Commons and Academic Success
offices sets a perfect example of a truly outstanding advocate for the UNK
campus,” said Chelsea Swarm, UNK Human Resources payroll technician. “Colten
began his position as a Writing Center Tutor in January of 2010. Since that
time, Colten has demonstrated leadership, creativity, attention to detail,
professionalism, initiative, respect and care for others, and an overall
excellent work ethic. His drive and organizational skills were demonstrated
last November at the National Day on Writing, which he coordinated.

“His contributions to the successful event involved everything from applying
for funds to rallying help for the sign-in tables and introducing workshops, in
addition to the many, many other details required in the event,” Swarm said.
“He was so committed to the event that he has even begun preparations for next
year’s event. This truly shows dedication to not only his position within the
Learning Commons, but also to UNK.”

(Colten recently graduated with a B.S. in Criminal
Justice and is now working on his M.B.A. He will be Co-Director of Camp Mount
Michael this summer)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

On Saturday a group of 5 seniors took 2nd place at Creighton
Physics Field Day. Their team consisted of Richard Woods, George Townsend,
Jacob Kenney, Nick Cairney, and Harrison Engel. Overall, there were three teams
of juniors and 1 team of seniors that competed. Other competitors included Ben
Pape, Josh Rauterkaus, Josh Policky, Curtis Farmer, Benet Kinghorn, Joey
Kucerik, Tommy Malizewski, Julian Pfeffer, Yoonho Kim, Albert Part, John Choi,
Gabe Cohen, and D.J. Wooten. There were many prizes won by each of the teams
for different events. Notable wins included Harrison Engel's 1st place in
"Chalk Talk," and Josh Rauterkaus' 3rd place in "Chalk
Talk"

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Randy Speer| Staff Writer "The Mount"

He is a man of mystery at Mount Michael. With his Spanish
speaking skills and an impeccable swooping haircut, Joseph Kapusnick is also a
man with many stories.

Originating from the east coast, Kapusnick
went to a college prep school much like Creighton Prep. While there, he
excelled in extemporaneous speaking. He stood out in his competitions,
qualifying for Nationals, but the awards were not the only thing he gained from
speech.

Kapusnick’s experience in high school speech was very
formative, and changed the direction of his studies from the sciences to
political affairs. He said, “This became the basis of my decision to go to
Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service for college. More than my interests,
though, speech was where I met my closest friends, many of whom I still keep in
touch with today,” he said. Kapusnick had experiences in competitions. He
qualified for final rounds at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, and was invited to
participate in a national 16-person extemporaneous speaking competition.

“Along with being comfortable speaking in a crowd, this
lesson of defeat was the greatest asset I gained from my forensics experience.
As a co-president of the team, I had to deal with a poor performance at a large
away tournament in a way that set a good example for the rest of the team, and
especially for underclassmen,” Kapusnick said.

He then went off to college at Georgetown, which also had a
large impact on his future.

Georgetown was a great experience for Kapusnick because of
the people he met and the experiences that exposed him to more of the world
than ever before. Classes were interesting and thought provoking, but two
experiences stick out more than any others for him.

“The first was my study abroad semester in Ecuador. This
time out of the country let me see the developing world that I had been
studying in class, and forced me to question many assumptions that I—and my
professors—seemed to have made,” Kapusnick said.

It was in Ecuador that he first started to delve deep into
the Spanish language. He had taken some Spanish beforehand, but he was much
more interested after he got back from Ecuador.

“I really developed a passion for Spanish, and language in
general, through my study abroad experience in Ecuador. It was truly amazing to
be able to communicate and experience daily life in a different culture and
language,” he said. He was so inspired by his experience that he continued to
take Spanish literature courses after returning and began intensive German
courses at the same time.

Kapusnick is not only fond of the Spanish language, but also
of the east coast. He loves the public transportation, the wide range of things
to do, and especially being close to the ocean, but he has found the Midwest
pace of life to be equally enjoyable.

“I have enjoyed the slower pace, the beautiful landscapes,
and been pleasantly surprised by all of the rich and interesting activities the
Omaha area offers. I’m looking forward this spring and summer to exploring some
of western Nebraska and the Dakotas, which I have heard are absolutely
beautiful,” said Kapusnick.

Overall, Kapusnick has enjoyed his first year at Mount
Michael, and has high hopes for the coming years.

“I have enjoyed the welcoming attitude of the faculty and
students, as well as the enthusiasm of students in learning and their
willingness to be challenged,” he said.

Mount Michael is an extraordinary college prep school that
excels in many fields. The students here work harder than many students in
other schools to achieve the very best that they can. There are plenty of
activities that are offered here to help them along the way. The Academic
Decathlon used to be one of these activities. Yet it has been missing from the
curriculum since the early 90’s. Now, the Academic Decathlon is coming back.

The Academic Decathlon is a competition
that consists of six multiple choice tests, a speech, an interview, and the
Super Quiz. These events are all designed to test the participants in every
possible way over a particular topic. Next year’s topic will be the country of
Russia. This will make the students strive to develop a deeper respect for
knowledge, help them become a better learner, achieve their goals in academic
excellence, and give them academic competition between fellow classmates and
students from other schools.

Head dean Dave Cormier said, “It is a great way to create
the classic renaissance man, a well-rounded person. They have to be good at
almost anything, from science and math to history and literature to arts and
music.”

Each team has to have at least six students, two honor, two
scholastic, and two varsity. Each student is categorized into these groups by
their grade point average. Honor students must have a GPA of 3.75-4.00,
scholastic students must have a GPA of 3.00-3.74, and varsity students must
have a GPA of 0.0-2.99. This gives any student that would like to participate
in this class an equal opportunity, and prevents powerhouse schools from
stacking their teams with all honor students. Also, all grade levels are
accepted at the competition.

The Academic Decathlon has become a popular topic of
discussion around the Mount. Students have become very interested in the
competition and there has been a rush of people wanting to take this class.
Senior Hunter Hottovy said, “I think people that have heard about it are
excited, but once the others hear about it, then they will be even more
excited.” These future competitors from Mount Michael will have a opportunity
to go to the events and show what they have learned about Russia.

Cormier hopes to have a class for the academic decathlon
five days a week for all grade levels, but is unsure at the moment what his
course of action in the classroom will be. “There are a number of things that I
can teach with confidence and there are others that I can’t,” said Cormier,
“But I will have Ms. Theis and Ms. Sullivan help out, too.”

The advantages of taking this class is that the students are
eligible for more scholarships and can put it on their college resume. It will
also be a good life experience that they can benefit from for years to come.

Mount Michael is known for excelling in academics, and the
Academic Decathlon will improve its reputation even more if next year’s team
does as well as the old teams used to. But, to improve this reputation, our
students will have to practice diligently and work as hard as they can.

Friday, April 20, 2012

After being retired for nearly two decades
May Day has returned to Mount Michael. Today’s adaptation of yesteryear’s
celebration has been adapted to the times. The day consisted of two parts. The
morning was devoted to community service and the afternoon to fun and games.

The day began with an assembly in the chapel where the day’s
activities were explained. From the chapel everyone dispersed to their
assignments. The indoor projects included cleaning and clearing out accumulated
junk stored in the attic and the storerooms on the stage. Outside projects
included such things as washing and cleaning the buses and trimming trees while
the baseball field saw crews work on various
landscaping projects. Even the friendly neighborhood goat helped out with
picking up liter on 216th street.

At the end of the service projects lunch was served outside.
Then it was time for Fun and Games! The school was divided up into teams which
competed in Warball, Flag Football, and Frisbee Football.

Because of the heavily laden schedule of activities with
Track, Soccer, Golf, Baseball, and Trap it is really very hard to find an
“open” day to schedule such an event.

Even with the planning some students had to miss some of the afternoon fun to
participate in a rescheduled track meet and the district music contest. Service Photos - Fun & Games Photos

Thursday, April 19, 2012

This year’s father and son banquet was held at Indian Creek
in Elkhorn. The featured guest speaker was Chicago Cubs owner Pete Ricketts.

At the banquet Mount Michael senior Thomas Feichtinger was
presented with the “Athlete of the Year” award. Feichtinger’s notable
accomplishments include an all class gold medal in the 3200 at the state
tournament in 2011, an individual State Championship last fall in Cross
Country. He currently leads all class B runners in the 1600m and 3200m
distances in track. He also holds Mount Michael Benedictines school records in
those same events. Photos

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Spring Sampler

Mount Michael Benedictine's band, choir, strings, and speech students
recently entertain the school community at the annual “Spring Sampler”
Beyond the large & small group performances were solos pieces
performed by Thomas Kalil (violin) , Christian Jones (vocal), John Byrne
(poetry), George Townsend (entertainment speaking).

Monday, April 9, 2012

Holy Week Triduum

The Triduum started out at 6:00 pm with the traditional Holy
Thursday dinner in the Abbey with about 18 guests in attendance. Salmon
and Chicken Manicotti were the main course. Abbot Michael served the
meal. At 8:00pm all gathered in the Chapel for the Eucharist and
traditional washing of the feet. The Good Friday service was held at
3:00 pm with the veneration of the cross and a communion service. The
Easter Vigil started at 8:30 pm with the lighting of the Easter Candle.
There was also an Easter day service on Sunday at 9:30 pm.

Abbot Michael's Easter Homily

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a
good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.
-- George Burns

A kindergarten teacher was walking around
observing her classroom of very intent pupils while they were drawing
pictures. As she came up to one girl who was working diligently, she
asked here what she was drawing. The little girl replied, "I'm drawing God." That gave the teacher pause so she stopped and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Without looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute." Entire Homily

Palm Sunday

Monks, students and guests process to the chapel for Palm Sunday Eucharist. More Photos